Nicholas Mangan

For as long as the I can remember, I have been pulling things apart – attempting to understand them – and then putting them back together (but not always in the same way).

My practice is driven by the desire make sense of the world by unpacking histories and possible narratives that surround specific contested sites and objects. This investigation explores the unstable relationship between culture and nature, evidencing the flows of matter, energy and ideologies that are produced through the tension of these two realms. A disputed tropical mine, a bankrupted island nation, a geological sample of the earliest earth crust, discarded tourist souvenirs and the remnants of a demolished architectural icon have each lent material to this process of dissection and reconfiguration. By rerouting such these events, stories and objects , new forms and latent narratives are unearthed. Recent projects have utilised a confluence of film and sculpture as an agent for both formal and metaphorical excavation.

Born 1979 Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

Currently lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.

Education

2015

PhD in Fine Arts, Monash University, Melbourne

2007–2008

UDK, Berlin, Germany

2001

Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art), Victorian College of the Arts

Selected Solo Exhibits

2016

Limits to Growth, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia

Brilliant Errors, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

Ancient Lights, Labor, Mexico City, Mexico

2015

Other Currents, Artspace, Sydney, Australia

Ancient Lights, Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK

2012

Some Kind of Duration, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia

Progress in Action reflects upon the 1989 civil war on the Pacific Island of Bougainville; a war that lasted over ten years and was ignited over disputed land use, ownership and compensation claims for land damage. This conflict was catalyzed by the imposing Panguna Copper Mine. As a result, conflict broke out between the indigenous landowners of Bougainville some of who formed the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) and Rio Tinto Copper operating as (Bougainville Copper ltd) in collaboration with the PNG government and Army.

In protest to the Panguna Mine, the BRA began to sabotage the mining venture by cutting power supply and blocking roads to the mine. This show of strength in turn prompted the PNG government to bring in its military forces, effectively exiling Bougainville’s citizens on their island and denying them rights and materials such as fuel, food and medicine.

Imprisoned on their island, the BRA ingeniously began appropriating any available materials to protect their livelihoods from PNG’s insurgent army. With equipment taken from the mine, they fashioned provisional weapons and made locally sourced coconut bio-fuel, which in turn powered their diesel-powered generators.

Progress in Action pays homage to the BRA’s use of coconuts as an alternative source of fuel through the construction of a provisional coconut oil refinery that is used to produce coconut bio-fuel that powers a modified diesel generator. The electricity produced by the generator supplies power to a projector, which in turn screens a film about the events. This film features imagery of the very material that is at the core of the project: the Bougainville crisis. It is a portrayal of energy in exchange; a series of actions and reactions, flows and interruptions.

Arawa plantation being destroyed and town being built, Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, March 1971. Photographers: Terence E.T. Spencer and Margaret Spencer. Collection of the National Library of Australia.

Cutting away the hills spurs, Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, March 1971. Photographers: Terence E.T. Spencer and Margaret Spencer. Collection of the National Library of Australia.

BRA leader Francis Ona (holding a samurai sword) and some of his men at Guava village, 1994. Photographer: Ben Bohane. Collection of the Australian War Memorial.